People & Inspiration

What happens when you put Cherry Pie Picache, Agot Isidro, Mylene Dizon, Joanna Ampil, Lorna Tolentino, and Angelica Panganiban in one show? You get real-life friends coming together for the first time to give #TitasOfManila due representation on screen. The five actresses star in the upcoming iWant original series Call Me Tita. Directed by Andoy Ranay, they play spirited friends making the most out of their age while grappling with their individual secrets.

ABS-CBN Lifestyle recently learned the cast's thoughts on Tita-hood at their press conference last August, sharing their personal experiences including running jokes and cold hard truths. Titas, they all agreed, for instance, can’t drink as much alcohol as they used to (something that Angelica and Joanna more so know). Cherry Pie and Agot recognized the need to be more health-concsious. Lorna could go on about hot flashes because, to her, #thestruggleisreal. Meanwhile, Mylene admitted loving brunches.

But there are things that they believed are relatively unfair assumptions about Titas. Joanna has long identified as a Tita; although it’s a label she proudly embraces, she recognized that others might not. “Alam mo ba, I’ve been a Tita since I was 10 years old. I’m a lolana nga also,” she quipped. “Pag-think ng mga tao na mahirap maging Tita, it’s not at all!”

She also clarified that just because women like her have reached a certain point in their lives doesn’t mean they have it all figured out. “Diba pag Tita ka na perfect ka lahat nggagawin mo? No. You can still commit mistakes and learn more,” she stated.

And the one thing Mylene wanted to correct? “We are not desperate,” she declared. “Sa lahat ng bagay—hindi lang sa love life, sa sex life, sa buhay, sa career, (at) sa asawa. No. We have choices and we can choose and we are capable of pursuing whatever it is that we want to do. We are not locked in one kahon.”